JUST IN: #Russia Admit Loosing Almost 10000 Soldiers In #Ukraine Vs #Russia War [DETAILS]—According to Metrouk news, Russia has moved swiftly to cover up reports it has lost almost 10,000 soldiers in Ukraine.
The Genius Media Nigeria gathered that the staggering death toll was published on a pro-Kremlin website yesterday, before being quickly removed.
To date, Russia has been tight-lipped on how many of its troops have been killed since it invaded Ukraine on February 24, leading to speculation the latest figures have been leaked.
Russia’s defence ministry previously reported that it has lost 498 soldiers in Ukraine
But Monday’s figures said Moscow has lost 9,861 soldiers with 16,153 injured, putting the figure far higher, according to the Daily Mail.
Ukraine has claimed Russia has suffered 15,000 casualties since the start of the war while Western intelligence puts the figure at 7,000.
Yesterday’s figures were published on the Komsomolskaya Pravda website as part of an update from Moscow’s defence ministry.
The death toll was swiftly removed from public view but remained on the website’s archive.
Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine has not gone to plan.
While Russian troops have seized control of some areas, the Kremlin’s advance on Kyiv has been slow and forces across the nation have met fierce resistance.
Western experts have warned Mr Putin may switch tactics in the face of slow progress on the ground by increasingly concentrating on air attacks.
A senior US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia had increased air sorties over the past two days, carrying out as many as 300 in the past 24 hours.
They also said Russian forces had fired more than 1,100 missiles into Ukraine since the invasion began.
Ukraine’s military said early Tuesday it had forced Russian troops out of a strategically important Kyiv suburb following fierce fighting.
But Russian forces were partially able to take three northwest suburbs where there has been bitter fighting for weeks.
While in the south, the besieged city of Mariupol continues to be heavily attacked by Russian forces.
Civilians attempting to escape the city have described fleeing through street-to-street gun battles and past unburied corpses.
A UK intelligence report has allegedly said Moscow’s forces are making significant breakthroughs, and are effectively utilising drones to strike Ukrainian targets.
The report, as quoted by the Daily Mail, explains how Russia has ‘steadily increased its bombardment of various cities, particularly Mariupol, Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv’.
UK defence analysts have also expressed concern that Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missile can bypass anti-missile defence systems.
The intelligence report says Russia intends its ‘total destruction’ of Mariupol to ‘serve as a warning to other cities’.
It said: ‘The pattern of destruction of food and water supplies, targeting of civilians, indiscriminate use of firepower to advance, is already being repeated elsewhere. This is based on effective lessons learned [by the Russians] in Syria.’
Western officials have previously warned Russia has ‘enormous’ stocks of artillery ammunition and could maintain its bombardment of cities for weeks.
Britain’s chief of defence intelligence has also said Moscow had been forced to switch tactics in the face of slow progress on the ground turning instead to the ‘reckless and indiscriminate’ use of firepower.
The latest assessment of Mr Putin’s offensive from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on March 21 said Russian forces ‘continued to make slow but steady progress and shell civilian infrastructure in Mariupol’ and ‘did not conduct offensive operations in northeastern Ukraine and have been unable to solve logistics issues’.
It further added: ‘Russian forces did not conduct any offensive operations toward the northeastern Ukrainian cities of Chernihiv, Sumy, or Kharkiv in the last 24 hours.’
CREDIT: https://metro.co.uk
